1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multilayered protective trouser assembly, and more particularly relates to a multilayered protective trouser assembly for a firefighter comprising a station trouser and trouser overpants therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Protective outer garments for a firefighter usually includes a heavy protective turnout coat, and some form of upper leg protection to insulate him from the hazards of structural fires. Firefighters are exposed to intense heat, smoke and moisture, and such environmental conditions are compounded by the general character of the ambient weather conditions, i.e. extreme cold or extreme heat. Protective outer garments for a firefighter are primarily designed to shed water and to thermally insulate the firefighter from extraordinary temperatures.
The protective garments worn by a firefighter are generally comprised of an outer shell of extremely tough fabric for protection, a moisture barrier which serves primarily to shed water, and an inner insulating liner. Often times, due to the weight of the assembled garment, the firefighter may remove his inner insulating liners for comfort, and then don his outer protective shell absent the inner insulating liners when called to duty. Such firefighter thereupon has no thermal insulation to protect him from the fire environment and because of the design of the outer protective shell, there is no visual means by which a supervisory officer may easily discern whether or not inner insulating liners are being worn. Additionally, because of the environment in which the firefighter must perform, and the physical activity which he must perform, enormous amounts of moisture are generated by his body which is absorbed in the inner insulating liners. Consequently, if insulating liners are sewn to the outer shell, to prevent the firefighter from removing them as mentioned above, there is no opportunity to change the liner, or to launder and dry same. The firefighter is then required to respond to subsequent fires with only a short duration between a prior firefighting activity; and he finds himself wearing even heavier, moisture saturated inner insulating liners within his protective trousers. Safety is comprised, and the likelihood of stress is increased dramatically due to excess weight in the trousers.
In copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/651,803, filed Sept. 18, 1984, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,121 there is disclosed a multilayered protective trouser specifically designed for firefighting activity and compromised of a trouser inner liner including a fly opening and a storm flap folded upon itself to form two layers having fastening means secured thereto, and a trouser outer shell including a fly opening and an outer shell tab having fastening means secured thereto wherein the storm flap extends across both of the fly openings with the outer shell tab removably positioned between the two layers of the storm flap to provide removable attachments between the storm flap and the outer shell tab and provide means for visually determining that the firefighter is properly attired, and specifically with the trouser inner liner.
For the most part, the activities of a firefighter center around the firehouse awaiting firefighting duty, and thus the firefighter is generally clothed in a station uniform or the like. The current invention allows the firefighter to utilize specially designed station uniform trousers in the place of the inner thermally protective liner, thus cutting down on the the weight of the total garment when wearing fully protective clothing.